Zenless Zone Zero Tier List
Welcome to our Zenless Zone Zero Tier List where we cover the best characters/agents. If you want to reroll, be sure to check out our ZZZ Reroll Guide for more catered information.
In the current ZZZ meta, Ellen teams dominate, but many others are comparable options. Zhu Yuan is releasing very soon, and we fully expect to place her into S-Tier.
Outside of these two, Grace/Piper Disorder teams and Soldier 11 teams show strong performance, with most of the rest ranking below or slightly below.
In the table below, you’ll see a breakdown of our ZZZ tier list for Version 1.0.
| Tier | Agents |
| S | Ellen, Zhu Yuan, Lycaon |
| A+ | Soldier 11, Koleda, Grace, Rina, Soukaku |
| A | Nekomata, Anby, Piper, Lucy, Nicole |
| B | Anton, Corin, Ben |
| C | Billy |
Disclaimers
This tier list attempts to cover every character and their potential value, but be sure to take this article with a grain of salt.
It’s still only the first patch, and the majority of the player base isn’t at endgame yet. For example, Anomaly builds perform very well with minimal investment, but Crit scalers like Ellen/Anton/Soldier 11 scale better with better gear.
For low-spenders/F2P players, Disorder/Anomaly teams can be very valuable, but a whale account with good gear will get more mileage out of Ellen/Crit scalers.
In a similar fashion, we also try to balance meta strength and flexibility. Nicole is one of the most flexible Support Agents, being impactful with low investment on essentially any team. Conversely, Soukaku is extremely relevant due to her pairing with Ellen.
For the most part, we focus more on meta strength over flexibility, but both are considerations.
Let’s jump into the Agent breakdowns.
S-Tier: Ellen
S Rank |
Victoria |
Ice |
Attack |
Ellen is the first Limited Agent to release in ZZZ, and she currently stands at the top of the meta. Her damage and teams are simply stronger than other options.
Lycaon is currently the top Stun Agent, so pairing these two together simply make the best team in the game currently. Soukaku is also a free Agent that synergizes with the team, making it even better.
As time passes, Ellen will likely be powercrept, but her value in the game right now is undeniable.
S-Tier: Zhu Yuan
|
S Rank |
CISRT |
Ether |
Attack |
Zhu Yuan is the second Limited Agent in Version 1.0, and like Ellen, she is also an Attack Agent. Currently, the only other Ether Agent in the game is Nicole, so Zhu Yuan provides nice coverage to hit Ether weak enemies.
Overall, Zhu Yuan’s damage is incredible, and her team building can be very flexible. Her AA (Additional Ability) activates if you have ANY Support on your team or an Ether Agent.
Nicole looks to be her best teammate currently, and Nicole a free Agent everyone has. Anby is also a free Stun Agent that activates her AA with Nicole. This makes Zhu Yuan a very easy Agent to build a team for.
Furthermore, Zhu Yuan has arguably more futureproofing due to her synergy with any Support Agent. This means as stronger options come out, you can still build a team with Zhu Yuan and any future Support.
S-Tier: Lycaon
|
S Rank |
Victoria |
Ice |
Stun |
Next up, we have Lycaon, an S-Rank Standard Agent. Lycaon stands out as an S-Rank Stun Agent that can synergize with both the Ice Attribute and Victoria Housekeeping Factions.
If you have Ellen and Lycaon, you can easily build the current strongest team in the game. If you want to save your pulls and skip Ellen, you can still run Corin as your Attack Agent.
Lycaon is very noticeable step up from Anby, in terms of both damage and Stun capabilities. His AA (Additional Ability) also debuffs the enemy, making them take 35% increased damage while Stunned. This debuff is massive, increasing your Attack Agent’s/Ellen’s damage immensely.
As more Ice/Victoria Agents release, Lycaon will continue to be a strong option unless a better Stun Agent releases. If you pull Rina, you can then pair Lycaon with Electric Attack Agents, which further increases his flexibility.
The only Electric Attack Agent right now is Anton, and he synergizes more with Shock teams. Even still, this provides a little bit of “future proofing.” Any future S-Rank Electric Attack Agent can be paired with Lycaon/Rina for a very strong team, and Lycaon can continue to be a Stunner for any future Ice Attack Agent.
A+Tier: Soldier 11
[Link to Full Soldier 11 Guide]
|
S Rank |
OBOLS |
Fire |
Attack |
As a Standard S-Rank Agent, Soldier 11 simply is a bit weaker when compared to Ellen/Zhu Yuan. Even still, her damage is still very good, and she has multiple team options.
Since Soldier 11 can deal Fire DMG with her Basic Attacks, this makes her Anomaly buildup stronger than most other Attack Agents. This allows her to be part of strong Anomaly/Disorder teams while still being a traditional Crit damage Agent. (Woodpecker Set)
Example: Soldier 11, Piper, Lucy
You can also play her in a more traditional Stun based team with Koleda + Ben/Lucy. The Inferno Metal set grants a 28% Crit Rate buff when hitting a Burning enemy, and Soldier 11 keeps up Burn uptime very well.
A+Tier: Koleda
|
S Rank |
Belobog |
Fire |
Stun |
When Koleda first released, there was a bug that reduced her Daze rather than increasing it. This led to her Daze application being very unimpressive. With the bug fixed, Koleda applies Daze almost twice as well, making her a very strong Stun Agent.
She doesn’t have the 35% damage debuff that Lycaon has, but her Daze application is just as good. You can also pair her with Ben to give her more personal damage on her skills through coordinated attacks.
Currently Koleda sees the most play in either Mono Fire teams with Soldier 11, or on Disorder teams with Grace/Rina. Both are strong options in the current meta, resulting in her A+ rating.
A+Tier: Grace
|
S Rank |
Belobog |
Electric |
Anomaly |
Grace is our next A+Tier Agent, and is a key Agent for Disorder teams. Her Shock application is very fast, and Shock is one of the best Anomalies to detonate with Disorder. Shock deals damage over a duration, but reapplying it only extends/refreshes the duration instead of dealing more damage.
This is where Disorder comes into play. By detonating the Shock, you frontload the damage, allowing you to build it up again for max efficiency. Most players detonate Shock with Assault through Piper (Physical Anomaly).
Currently, Disorder teams look to be Grace’s strongest teams, but Mono-Electric works as well. Anton deals more damage when hitting Shocked enemies, and Grace enables that.
A+Tier: Rina
|
S Rank |
Victoria |
Electric |
Support |
Moving on, we have Rina, a Support Agent from Victoria Housekeeping. In terms of the meta, Grace is at her strongest when paired with Rina.
Grace provides a teamwide PEN Ratio buff, which helps increase Anomaly damage. She also extends the duration of Shock, which increases the damage dealt since Shock is essentially a DoT (Damage over Time).
M1 is also a very strong upgrade for Rina as it extends her buff duration. So far, Grace has been the best in a Disorder team with Grace and Piper.
However, Grace can still be used as a traditional Support. You can pair her with Lycaon and Corin for a strong “hyper carry” team. You can even forgo Additional Abilities and simply pair her with Agents like Nekomata/Soldier 11.
As such, Rina is extremely flexible for any account, slotting into both Anomaly and Hyper Carry teams.
A+Tier: Soukaku
A Rank |
Section 6 |
Ice |
Support |
Up next, we have Soukaku, who is a Support Agent for the Ice Attribute and Section 6 Faction.
Soukaku is a very difficult Agent to assess. Compared to the other 3 Supports, her kit is the most clunky and she takes up a lot of field time for her buff/Chain Attack.
However, her synergy with Ellen is very powerful, and the current meta is basically Ellen or Zhu Yuan. Soukaku provides a massive 1000 flat ATK buff at max, and her buff uptime is also very long.
There are many benefits to Soukaku, but her rating is mostly carried by the strength of Ellen rather than her own. In the future, Miyabi may release as an Attack Agent (based on CBT), so Soukaku will have another synergy there as well.
Overall, we don’t rate Soukaku much higher than the other Supports. While her performance with Ellen is very good, if you don’t enjoy her clunky playstyle, you aren’t losing out on too much if you use Lucy/Nicole instead.
A-Tier: Nekomata
|
S Rank |
Cunning Hares |
Physical |
Attack |
Nekomata is another Standard S-Rank Attack Agent like Soldier 11. Simply put, Nekomata is mid. She is a noticeable upgrade from Corin/Anton, and only slightly below Soldier 11.
However, she’s a noticeable downgrade compared to Ellen or Zhu Yuan.
Even still, Nekomata is a very easy Agent to build around. You can run Anby + Nicole for a free Cunning Hares team. You can also replace Anby for Piper and play around the Assault Anomaly.
With Nicole proccing Corruption (Ether Anomaly), you can get some nice Disorder procs, but it won’t compare to double Anomaly teams with Grace.
Overall, she’s a solid option, not amazing, but not bad.
A-Tier: Anby
|
A Rank |
Cunning Hares |
Electric |
Stun |
Up next, we have Anby, another free Agent you get from Cunning Hares. As a Stun Agent, she is a noticeable downgrade from Koleda/Lycaon, but not everyone has both Lycaon and Koleda.
Traditional Stun teams are the meta right now, and Anby is one of three current Stun Agents. With Zhu Yuan releasing, Anby will be a very competitive option while also being free.
As more Stun Agents release, Anby will definitely be powercrept, but considering she is a free Agent, she provides a lot of value for every account.
A-Tier: Piper
|
A Rank |
Sons of Calydon |
Physical |
Anomaly |
Piper released in Version 1.0, but she was not part of any CBT. Now that players have gotten the chance to play with her, she has definitely impressed.
Piper and Grace make for a very strong duo, proccing massive Disorder damage numbers. Piper also applies Assault very quickly, similar to Grace and Shock.
It’s tough to rate these two as they simply work best together. However, we gave the edge to Grace as she is the buildup Anomaly Agent, while Piper is the detonator.
Shock deals more damage when detonated compared to Assault, and Disorder damage is based on the first Anomaly rather than the detonator. In terms of flexibility, they are also very similar. Grace can go Mono-Electric/pair with Koleda/S11 while Piper can go Duo Physical (with Nekomata) or pair with S11/Lucy.
Ultimately, it’s not a huge differentiator, resulting in a small tier difference (A vs A+)
A-Tier: Lucy
|
A Rank |
Sons of Calydon |
Fire |
Support |
Like Piper, Lucy released in 1.0 but wasn’t part of any CBT. She’s a strong Support that doesn’t require much field time, similar to Rina or Nicole.
Lucy provides an ATK buff similar to Soukaku, but Soukaku grants more, which makes sense considering the field time required for each.
As expected, Lucy sees the most usage along with Piper or on Mono-Fire teams. In Disorder teams, Rina is the better option. Lucy is the best support for Soldier 11 teams, but the team as a whole performs a bit worse than Ellen/Zhu Yuan, resulting in the slightly lower rating.
A-Tier: Nicole
|
A Rank |
Cunning Hares |
Ether |
Support |
Nicole is one of the free Agents you receive upon starting the game. In the CBT, Chaotic Metal Drive Disc had a support effect, making Nicole very effective and flexible. With release, the Chaotic Metal set now is a damage based set, which unfortunately lowers Nicole’s value.
Even still, Nicole is a flexible support for almost any team. While she may not always be your best option, she can easily fit into any team, giving her great flexibility.
Her Chain Attack/EX Special shreds enemy DEF, which is a buff useful on any team, whether hyper carry or disorder. She also applies a decent amount of Anomaly, leading to Corruption triggers.
Nicole is a great Support for Nekomata, but the team as a whole doesn’t compare to others above in the tier list. With Zhu Yuan releasing, Nicole will move right up to A+ tier as she is simply Zhu Yuan’s best Support due to the Ether DMG buff on her AA.
There are many players that even use Nicole on Ellen teams as their preferred choice. You can essentially forgo switching into Nicole and use her Chain Attack to shred enemy DEF, going right into your Attack Agent for massive damage.
B-Tier: Anton
|
A Rank |
Belobog |
Electric |
Attack |
Moving on, we have Anton, an A-Rank Electric Attack Agent from Belobog Heavy Industries. As an A-Rank Attack Agent, he won’t compete with S Rank Agents, but he can be a valuable addition to your roster.
Anton will be featured on the Ellen banner, meaning you can get a copy or two while pulling for Ellen. While he doesn’t synergize with Ellen, he opens up options for a second team since you already get Anby for free.
This gives you 2/3 team members for a budget Electric team. If you have Grace/Rina, Anton can slot in as a third Agent, but you can also run him alongside Anby/Nicole for a F2P team.
Notably, Anton M1 has a tech where you can spam his Electric Drill attack without running out of Energy. This can be great for spamming damage against Machine enemies.
Overall, he’s not a bad character by any means, and he does have application even for strong teams if you have Grace and/or Rina. There are simply better options available even for Grace/Rina (Piper).
B-Tier: Corin
|
A Rank |
Victoria |
Physical |
Attack |
Corin is another Agent you receive for free as part of the pre-registration rewards. Like Billy, she already has competition being a Physical Attack Agent.
With Nekomata being a stronger Physical Attack Agent, Corin has difficult competition. If you pull Lycaon from the Standard Banner, you can use Corin/Lycaon/Soukaku for a solid F2P team.
While Ellen is definitely much stronger, you can save your pulls and use Corin instead. This gives Corin a bit of a place in the current meta as an alternative if you want to save your pulls.
There is some potential to run Corin alongside Piper for a Physical team, but this team hasn’t impressed compared to other options.
B-Tier: Ben
|
A Rank |
Belobog |
Fire |
Defense |
Next up, we have Ben, the only Defense Agent in the game currently. As it sounds, Defense Agents focus on things that provide defensive utility compared to offensive.
When you’re just starting out, avoiding damage is quite powerful as you can push through content without worrying about dying. There are also no healers currently in the game, which can make Ben valuable.
However, the wall most players face in Shiyu Defense is a lack of damage, not a lack of survivability. This makes puts Ben in an awkward situation for the current meta.
Even still, he does have a Crit buff on his AA, and you can pair him with Koleda for extra damage. He does have a place in the current meta, but he will quickly be phased out as time passes.
C-Tier: Billy
|
A Rank |
Cunning Hares |
Physical |
Attack |
Unfortunately, Billy is currently our only C-tier Agent. He is the last Free Agent you get from starting the game, but he is quickly outclassed.
As an A-Rank Attack Agent, he’s already at a disadvantage when trying to compete with Nekomata, an S-Rank Physical Attack Agent. His ranged playstyle can be an advantage, but that is a matter of personal preference instead of meta.
You can use Billy as a Physical Anomaly applier with Anomaly Mastery, but Piper does that role better than Billy. The other Agent that’s often lumped with Billy is Corin, but Corin has more use as an Attack Agent to pair with Lycaon outside of Ellen.
With the current roster, Billy simply doesn’t have a strong home, and there are upgrades in almost every possible team of his.
Things may change in the future if content requires strong AoE, which Billy does have. (Similar to Herta in HSR and Pure Fiction)
The post Zenless Zone Zero Tier List: Best Agents in Version 1.0 appeared first on Mobalytics.
